When I was in my second year in the journalism program at Carleton University, I worked on a TV story about coping with stress. My teammates and I set up our camera in the busy University Centre and asked passersby one simple question: "What do you do to cope with stress?" The answers ranged from the expected—go to the gym, sleep, eat, party with friends—to the eccentric. My favourite response, which I've remembered almost 40 years later, was this one: "I like to take a bath then splash on some Paco Rabanne"—spoken in a breathy voice like Marilyn Monroe.

We then met with a graduate student doing a thesis on the subject of managing stress. He wasn't surprised to hear the answers we had received to our "streeter" interview question. He told us that when you ask people how they cope with stress, most will describe what they do to avoid stress. He then shared what he had found in doing his thesis: "The best way to deal with stress is to get rid of the thing causing you stress." For example, if you're fretting over a paper that's due in three days, the most effective means of eliminating your stress is to sit down and write the paper.

I applied his counsel throughout my life, whenever I felt a cloud looming over me because of some unfinished business over which I had some control. I quoted the line to a loved one today, something I've done many times in the past four decades.